Days of Our Lives
by Avrel the Teller
Summary: I was just a college student. I didn't want to deal with these units and the mysteries behind their creation. But now it looks like I have no choice. Why can't I just have a normal life? Manual fic.


A/N: So I feel that a bit of explanation is needed before I start. I don't know if I'm going to continue WNIT, even if Congratulations! is updated, for the simple reason that I'm really not too happy with the writing in it. However, there were some things I wanted to do with the characters that I never got the chance to do there. I also wanted to try something that I haven't really seen in manual fics.

The only similarity between the two stories is the characters. Otherwise, this story is not related to WNIT or Congratulations! in any way.

* * *

If someone tells you that life is like a roller coaster, they're wrong.

Roller coasters can be scary, and sure, they're full of twists and turns and even loops, but in the end, you know that everything is fine and that the ride will eventually end. But in reality, no one really knows whether things will improve or not. So in that way, life is more like a storm, tossing you left and right and upside-down until you have no idea where you are anymore.

My largest storm began on my twenty-first birthday.

It was Saturday and I didn't have any courses to go to. So, naturally, I planned on catching up on lost sleep from this week. And besides, I knew my friends would be planning something for my birthday, so I wanted to be as rested as possible.

Of course, Sasha Collins was having none of that.

Instead of waking peacefully, I was rudely awakened by something tickling my nose and an annoying horn-like sound breaking the silence, or at least whatever silence was possible in a city like Boston. I groaned and tried to hit whatever was in front of my face, but I only felt air. I cracked open an eye. A pair of greens eyes stared back at me from a face framed by long, wavy brown hair.

With a grin, Sasha blew the party horn again. It whacked me in the nose before curling back up. Sasha took the horn from her mouth, grinned again, and said, "Happy birthday, Madge!"

"What the hell, Sasha?" I mumbled, yanking my covers up so only my eyes and the top of my head were visible. "What time is it?"

"Eight," she replied.

"Eight?!" I yanked the covers off of my head, glaring at her. I'm not sure what she was thinking, but eight most definitely was not an acceptable time for waking up on a weekend.

Sasha raised her hands up in front of her. "Don't give me that look! It was Audrey's idea," she said hastily. "She actually wanted to wake you and Bridget up at six, but the rest of us persuaded her not to."

Audrey Simmons. Of course this was her idea. She was always trying to drag us into some sort of harebrained adventure. She did plan some genuinely fun times, of course, like the time she organized a road trip out to western Massachusetts just so we could have a better view of a meteor shower, but she could get a little overbearing at times. It was a wonder that Bridget, my twin, could manage to rent an apartment with her without needing a break.

I sighed but slowly sat up. "Do I even want to know why?" I asked.

"C'mon, Madge, you and Bridge are twenty-one now!" Sasha exclaimed with a wide grin. "You can't expect us not to make a huge deal out of it."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you have to wake us up so early in the morning," I grumbled, rubbing my eyes in an attempt to wake myself up. "It's a Saturday. I like to sleep in."

Sasha just laughed and skipped out of the room. "I'm making breakfast. It'll be done in a few minutes, so hurry up!" she called over her shoulder before leaving.

I sighed but got out of bed anyway, stepping over piles of laundry that I hadn't gotten around to picking up and closed the door. If I wasn't ready before breakfast was done, Sasha would be back, banging on my door until I opened it.

The room that I shared with Sasha was small, just barely large enough to fit her bed, my bed, and a desk. Her bed was right next to the door, which meant that I usually bumped into it in the morning when I was half-asleep. My bed was against the opposite wall, underneath a window looking out on a busy street. The last wall had a closet stuffed with clothes and bags and whatever else I had tossed in there. Okay, so maybe I wasn't exactly super neat, but hey, it's not like there's a lot of space to work with.

After changing and brushing my short, light blond hair (which was probably useless since it always found a way to tangle again within five minutes), I walked out of my room and down the narrow hall to the small kitchen. It could barely be considered a separate room from the main room. It was just a small area with a fridge, an oven, a microwave, and a sink. We didn't even have room for a proper kitchen table. We just had to make do with the coffee table set in front of the couch in out living room.

Sasha was pulling toast out of the toaster as I walked over. Yeah, great birthday breakfast. Then again, if Sasha tried to cook anything else, she'd probably burn the whole apartment building down. I hadn't let Sasha near the stove since when we first moved in this summer because of that very fear. She had been trying to bake cupcakes and had the bright idea of placing the cooking spray-covered tin right next to one of the burners, and needless to say, it immediately caught fire. Luckily we'd managed to put it out before anything serious could happen, but ever since then I'd handled any cooking that required the stove since I was at least slightly competent at cooking.

Sasha looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. "That's what you're wearing on your birthday?"

I glanced down at myself. I had on a purple t-shirt and black gym shorts. "What's wrong with it? It's the same type of outfit I usually wear."

"Exactly!" Sasha exclaimed as she placed the toast on a plate. "Today's a special occasion! You need to dress up a bit!"

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the plate. "I'm sorry, I thought it was my birthday, not some formal event. And last I checked," I added, giving a pointed glance at her legs, "jeans were not formal attire." I'm sorry, but to me, jeans and a light blue blouse don't exactly scream "fancy."

"It's better than gym shorts," Sasha shot back, crossing her arms.

"My birthday, my choice," I replied, setting my toast down on the kitchen table before walking back to the oven to turn the tea kettle on. Sasha was beside me, reaching for a cup for her orange juice. I reached up to the top shelf to grab a tea cup for myself, but found to my irritation that they had been pushed back out of reach. "Dammit, Sasha! How many times do I have to tell you not to put the tea cups so far back?" I snapped.

Sasha giggled and walked back over, easily plucking a cup from the shelf and handing it to me. She stood half a head taller than me, which she liked to show off in occasions like this. I swear she was putting the cups that far back just to annoy me.

Finally, we settled down at the coffee table to eat. I leaned back in my chair and glanced around the apartment Sasha and I rented. Overall, it wasn't anything impressive. Other than the couch we were sitting on and the coffee table, we had managed to squeeze in a few chairs and a small TV, a Wii set beside it. The only other actual room in our apartment was the cramped bathroom in the hallway. A small closet across from the bathroom held our washer and dryer, but other than that, there was nothing else. It might not be luxurious, but it was the best that a couple of college students could afford.

"So tell me," I said when I finished eating, "what do you and the rest of the group have planned for us?"

Sasha waved a finger at me. "Can't tell you that! It wouldn't be a surprise, then!" she replied with a smirk.

Of course. A surprise. I just can't wait. "Not even a hint?" I asked.

Sasha shook her head and opened her mouth to answer, but at that moment, the buzzer from our intercom went off.

"Audrey didn't invite anyone from outside of our building, did she?" I asked. Everyone in our little group of friends lived in the same apartment building.

Sasha shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe she ordered a package for you."

"Maybe," I agreed. The intercom went off again, and I got up and walked over, hitting the button. "Yes?"

"I'm looking for a Madge Newman," an bored, unfamiliar voice said. "I have a package for her."

"That's me," I said. It probably was just a birthday gift from my parents or Audrey. "I'll buzz you in."

"I definitely called that one," Sasha said, grinning at me.

"Whatever you say," I replied, settling down on the couch to wait.

It only took about a minute for the delivery guy to ride the elevator up to our floor and knock on our door. When he did, I walked over to the door and checked through the peephole. Outside was a middle-aged guy with black hair wearing a shirt with a green design that I couldn't quite make out and carrying a delivery bag type thing. Behind him stood one of those wheely thingies delivery guys use with a large, rectangular box propped up on it. "Hello?"

"Hello. Would you be Madge Newman?" the guy asked.

"That's me," I said.

"Got a delivery," the guy said. As if I couldn't see the giant box behind him. "I need you to sign here."

I took the clipboard from his outstretched hand, quickly wrote down my signature, and handed it back to him. He grabbed the handles of his wheely thingy, and I stepped out of the way so he could push it into the apartment. When the box had been safely placed on the floor of the living room, the guy reached into his delivery bag and handed me an envelope. "This will explain everything."

"Explain?" I repeated. Why would this need explaining? I mean, it was just a birthday gift, wasn't it? I hesitantly took the letter, frowning at it.

The guy nodded. "Everything you need to know is in that letter," he said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get going." He tipped his hat at me, wheeled his wheely thingy out the door, and just like that he was gone.

I closed the door behind him, staring down at the envelope. I didn't recognize the handwriting on the front. There wasn't a return address either.

Sasha came to stand beside me and looked at the envelope. "Are you gonna open it?"

"Yeah, hold on," I said. I ripped open the envelope and pulled out the letter. The stationary itself was rather plain except for an image of the Earth in the upper right hand corner. I slowly read it. "Congratulations! You have been selected to test our new historical units." I exchanged a confused glance with Sasha.

"Historical units?" Sasha repeated, trying to get a closer look at the letter. "Like, robots? Are those possible?"

"Not to my knowledge." I looked back at the letter, frowning. There were definitely several things wrong here, and all of them unnerved me. Even ignoring the robot, I'd just gotten a strange package from someone I didn't even know.

"Keep reading!" Sasha said, pushing my shoulder.

"Alright, alright, relax!" I snapped. I focused my attention back to the letter. "You have been matched to the unit that we believe best suited to you. We hope you enjoy your time with your new unit." I frowned. "There's no signature," I said slowly. "It just has 'Nations of the World' typed at the bottom."

Sasha and I exchanged a glance before turning to face the box. There was a little booklet taped to the front that I hadn't noticed before. Slowly, I walked over, pulled off the booklet, and read the words written in large font on the cover.

ARTHUR KIRKLAND: User Guide and Manual.

"Arthur Kirkland, huh?" I flicked open the manual, skimming through the first page. My eyes slowly widened as I read. The manual listed eating habits, sleeping habits, even bathing habits. It listed off characteristics. It was acting like whatever it was that was in the box was human. No, wait, not a human, because the manual also mentioned that whatever-it-was also just happened to be a freaking _country_. "...What is this? What the _hell _is this?"

"What, what?" Sasha asked, trying to grab the manual away from me.

I fended her off and continued staring at the manual. "Sasha...This thing is way too advanced to even _exist_."

"What do you mean?" Sasha asked impatiently, crossing her arms.

"What I mean is that this unit thing is supposed to be a country," I replied. "An entire freaking country, Sasha, that apparently can think and act completely on its own like a normal person."

Sasha tilted her head, gazing at me in confusion. "But how...That can't be right. It's like something out of some sci-fi show!"

"I know," I said, finally looking away from the manual. "And whoever made it somehow got our address...I don't like this, Sash. I don't know if we should open that box. It might not be safe."

Sasha thought for a moment. "They're a company, right?"

"I'd assume so," I replied.

"Then maybe they have a website explaining everything!" Sasha said excitedly.

Duh. A website. Why hadn't I thought of that sooner? "You're probably right," I said. "Hang on, let me grab my computer." I trotted down the hall toward our bedroom, nearly kicking Sasha's bed when I entered, and grabbed my laptop off of my desk before returning to the living room and placing my laptop on the table. I turned it on and opened the internet, and with Sasha watching over my shoulder, I quickly typed "Nations of the World" into the search bar. Not many results popped up, but the first link led to what looked to be the company's website. I clicked on it, hoping for it to explain everything.

But apparently the company hadn't finished their website, for some reason. The only things on the home page were an image of what I assumed to be several of the historical units and a brief explanation what they and the units were. I let my gaze wander over the row of units shown. None of them were labeled, so I still had no idea who Arthur was, but I couldn't help but wonder.

I skimmed the little paragraph below the units. There was something about teaching people about history and other countries in order to promote peace, but I really couldn't see how these units were supposed to accomplish that. I sighed in frustration. "Glad they thought to put something useful on their site."

"It's not _completely_ useless," Sasha said. "See? At least it tells us why they made the units."

"Yeah, but it tells us nothing about how they managed to make the damn things," I replied.

"Maybe they don't want competition?" Sasha suggested.

I shrugged. "Maybe. But I still don't like this."

Sasha hesitated. "Maybe we should open it."

I stared at her. "Are you crazy? We don't know what that thing is or who sent it. We don't know how they got our address or why it was sent to me. And you want to ignore all that and open it?"

Sasha nodded. "It doesn't seem all that dangerous from what we've read. Strange, yes. Impossible, probably. but dangerous?"

I sighed in exasperation. Man, was she pushy. "Fine. We'll open it. But it's your fault if it malfunctions and starts destroying stuff." I flicked through the manual until I found a page about safely opening the box. I had to say, these Nations of the World people really didn't want anything going wrong. "So we can place either hamburgers, French food, or Spanish food near the box, but I don't think I want him trying to attack us. We don't have any alcohol in the apartment, so we can't do that, and I don't think I want to piss him off by playing The Star-Spangled Banner, so that just leaves playing Saving Grace."

"On it!" Sasha pushed me out of the way and sat in front of my laptop, logging onto Youtube and finding the song.

For a moment, there was silence. Then, as the song began to play, we could hear a distinct humming coming from the box, which soon turned into singing. I slowly walked over to the box and cautiously opened it.

The singing stopped abruptly when the light hit the unit. It - he? - blinked his unnaturally green eyes several times as he adjusted to the light. He had ruffled blond hair and the thickest eyebrows I had ever seen. Slowly, he sat up and climbed out of the box, looking around in confusion.

I figured it was as good a time as any to introduce ourselves. "Hey, uh...England? Arthur?" I said. Yeah, definitely sticking to Arthur. Calling him England would just be too weird.

Arthur fixed his gaze on me and Sasha. "Oh, I didn't see you for a moment. Terribly sorry," he said. He stuck out his hand. "You know my name already. May I ask what yours is?"

I glanced toward Sasha before taking Arthur's hand and shaking it. "So, uh, I'm Madge, and this is Sasha." Great introduction, Madge. That didn't sound awkward at all.

Arthur stared intently at me, which quickly started to creep me out. It looked like he was trying to memorize my face in case he needed to identify me quickly in a crowd or something. Then he nodded to himself. "Right. You're my partner, then."

"Partner?" I repeated, furrowing my brow. "What do you mean, partner?"

Arthur shrugged. "We're paired up. I don't know why or how I know that. I just do."

"Didn't that letter say that you had been matched with him?" Sasha asked. "Maybe there's something in the programming."

"Probably," I replied, but I wasn't sure how I felt about this. Everything was just getting weirder and creepier by the minute. Arthur was looking confused, and he seemed like he wanted to ask us something, but before he got the chance, someone started banging on the door.

"Who is it now?" I grumbled, walking back to the door and looking through the peephole. Standing outside was a girl with long black hair tied up in a side ponytail and light brown eyes, another girl with blond hair that was a slightly darker shade than mine and gray eyes, and a tall-ish guy with silver hair and red eyes. "It's Audrey and Bridget, and some other guy," I said. I began to open the door. It was barely open when Audrey shoved her way through, nearly knocking me over. Bridget and the guy followed more slowly.

"Audrey!" I yelled. "Be _careful_!"

"Sorry, sorry!" she replied, but she didn't really pay much attention to me, focusing on Sasha, which I suppose made sense. They were old friends, having grown up together in the same town in Indiana before coming to the same college here in Boston. "Sasha, you're not going to _believe _what happened!" Audrey yelled. "It's serious! And really creepy!"

After what just happened to us, we probably could've believed anything. I glanced at the guy, then let my gaze settle on Bridget. For once, my twin wasn't saying much. "What happened?" I asked.

"Bridget got something called a historical unit in the mail," Audrey explained. "Gilbert here. It's really weird, though...We didn't give out our address or anything to the people who made it..." Her gaze landed on Arthur, and she frowned. "Who's that?"

Before I got a chance to respond, Gilbert grinned widely and said, "Hey, it's Arthur! What are you doing here?"

"Same reason as you, it seems," Arthur replied. He pointed at me. "I'm her partner."

Okay, this was getting way too much for me. I don't know about anyone else, but having robots somehow be sent to you that claim they're "partnered" with you is definitely up there on the creepy scale. That letter I got definitely did nothing to help improve matters.

The letter.

"Bridget, did a letter come with him?" I asked suddenly. I thought I already knew the answer, but I wanted to be sure.

Bridget nodded. "Did you get one, too?"

I walked over to the kitchen table and grabbed mine. "Yeah. Did you bring yours?"

Bridget pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to me. I unfolded it and looked at both letters. "They're exactly the same. The only difference here is our names."

"I don't understand," Sasha said. "Why did you two get sent these units?"

"I told you. Because I'm your partner," Arthur said.

"And I'm hers!" Gilbert added, pointing at Bridget. "Pretty awesome for her, I'd say."

"Enough! I heard it already," I said, handing Bridget's letter back to her. "But it's not exactly normal to receive a country in the mail. It's downright creepy." I turned and began walking towards the door. "I'm going to get the guys. You three try to...I don't know, try and figure something out. Sasha, show them the site or something."

"But what about your birthday?" Audrey asked. "I spent so long preparing for this for you and Bridge!"

"Audrey, I think this might be a tiny bit more important than birthday plans," I said. "Let's just figure this out first." With that, I walked out the door and down the hall toward the elevators.

Robots calling themselves countries. A group called Nations of the World. Suddenly my birthday was about to get a lot more interesting.


End file.
